When the Los Angeles Dodgers last faced San Francisco Giants left-hander Matt Moore they needed a Corey Seager two-out single in the ninth inning to avoid being no-hit. Moore’s performance Wednesday night produced drastically different results.
That was despite the Giants spotting Moore an early, albeit slim, lead. Denard Span walked on four pitches to open the game, then advanced to second base on a passed ball. Angel Pagan’s single to right field scored Span.
Although it should have been rather easily, a great throw from Yasiel Puig made the play at the plate close. Had Carlos Ruiz not lost control of the ball, it’s likely Span would’ve been out.
After Buster Posey grounded out, Maeda struck out Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt to limit the damage. Howie Kendrick led off the bottom of the first with a base hit to right field, but was erased on a force out.
Justin Turner walked to put a pair of runners on for Adrian Gonzalez, who tied the game with an RBI single. Puig then hit a three-run homer to give the Dodgers a 4-1 lead. Moore’s troubles continued as Ruiz and Kiké Hernandez reached on back-to-back infield singles.
Maeda aided his cause with an RBI single to center, though the inning ended on the play as Hernandez was thrown out attempting to go first to third base. San Francisco got one run back in the second behind Ehire Adrianza’s solo homer.
The home run was Adrianza’s second of the season, with his other coming at Clayton Kershaw’s expense. Kendrick was hit by a pitch on an 0-2 count to start the bottom of the second. Seager’s base hit put runners on the corners with nobody out.
That also marked the end of the road for Moore, who was replaced by Matt Cain. Kendrick’s aggressive baserunning paid off as Turner’s line drive to center resulted in a sacrifice fly. Maeda retired the side in order in the third, ending an third straight inning with a strikeout.
Ruiz led off the bottom of the third with base hit to right field, and moved into scoring position soon after on a wild pitch. With two out and two on, Kendrick lined a two-run double over Pence’s head.
Kendrick was thrown out attempting to stretch it to a triple; a small price to pay for the Dodgers taking an 8-2 lead. Puig made a running, leaping, over-the-shoulder catch on the warning track in right field to end the fourth.
Andrew Toles lined a pinch-hit RBI double to left field with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Julio Urias entered in the sixth and gave up a one-out infield single, followed by an RBI double to Belt.
San Francisco seemingly waved the white flag in the bottom of the sixth, inserting Ty Blach on the mound, and three players from their bench. Blach retired Seager, Turner and Gonzalez in order to keep the Dodgers’ lead at 9-3.
Urias worked around a two-out single in the seventh to complete a second inning of work out of the bullpen. In his first game since May 30, Alex Wood threw a 1-2-3 eighth inning. J.P. Howell entered in the ninth and worked around a two-out infield single to wrap up a 9-3 victory.
The Dodgers’ win extended their lead in the National League West to six games, and trimmed the magic number to clinch the division to five.
